Jay Cowan was a 19-year-old kid, fresh out of Chicago and looking for a job, when he discovered Lake Wohlford tucked away in the mountains above Escondido.

The only thing available at the lake that year, 1974, was a part-time position working on the dock. Cowan took it.

“I was living down in Escondido, but when I came up here, I fell in love with the place because of the water and all the trees around the lake,” said Cowan, Wohlford’s supervising ranger. “I took the part-time job, but it worked out into a career. And most of my life, I’ve worked right here.”

That nearly 35-year romance with Lake Wohlford will end Dec. 30, when Cowan walks up the hill from the lake for the last time and eases into retirement at the foot of Palomar Mountain. At 55, he says he’s not done working, but he plans to take time off to do some things he has always wanted to do before getting another job.

“I have a bunch of projects backed up, and a couple of friends who are still rebuilding after the fire,” Cowan said. “I have a couple of epic adventures planned. I’ve never been off the North American continent, so I’d like to maybe go scuba diving in Fiji, or maybe hiking in Nepal. Wherever I go, I’ll be around natural wonders like a mountaintop, a river or a beach.”

Listening to Cowan share tales from 35 years at Wohlford, it’s clear that this place, along with Dixon Lake and the Daley Ranch, have served as his natural wonders until some others come along.

“I have a sweet view outside my office window every day, but some days stand out more than others,” he said.

Like the time an osprey scooped one of the stocked trout off the surface of the lake and proceeded to get into an aerial dogfight with a bald eagle over the trout. The eagle won.

Cowan said he was lucky early on because he had a dedicated lake worker, the late John Lusardi, mentor him. Other influential people included former San Diego City Lakes manager Jim Brown, whom Cowan said “consistently raised the bar for local lake managers.” Former Escondido City Manager Doug Clark was “an inspirational leader,” Cowan said.

As for unforgettable characters, the late “Lunker” Bill Murphy tops the list. Murphy has a rock pile named for him at Wohlford.

“He was the most focused angler I ever met,” Cowan said. “A true ‘bass whisperer’ who had a scientific approach that was decades ahead of his time.”

Cowan was at the lake the day Steve Beasley caught a 19-pound, 3-ounce bass, still the lake record.

In fact, he was there to see and photograph every lake record that exists today. He witnessed the birth of the big-bass craze and remembers finding 20-pound bass floating at the lake back in the mid-1980s.

He wasn’t surprised to hear that a poacher last summer claimed to have caught a 20-pounder at night at Wohlford.

In addition to supervising at Lake Wohlford, Cowan also oversaw the eradication of invasive exotic plants at Wohlford, Dixon and the Daley Ranch. He also took the lead on the discovery of quagga mussels and was the first to report it in the county at Dixon Lake.

His most memorable — and challenging — project was making and installing an anchoring system for the lake’s new docks. He was a versatile supervisor.

“It’s been a pleasure working with Jay all these years,” said Tony Smock, the city of Escondido’s lakes supervisor. “I always knew Jay would be there at Wohlford and doing a great job. That took a lot of the stress off my job. He’s just a stand-up, reliable guy.”

Said Phyliss Kamps, who runs Smokey’s Lake Wohlford Cafe with her husband, Smokey, “I don’t know what we’re going to do without him.”

Cowan almost didn’t make it to retirement. About 10 years ago he survived a supreme test of dedication one night when he confronted a man taking a chain saw to some of the lake’s shoreline oak trees. When Cowan tried to make a citizen’s arrest, the guy started the chain saw and took a swipe at Cowan, barely missing his stomach and leaving a trail of oil across Cowan’s shirt.

“He was a methamphetamine addict and was coming in around midnight and cutting the trees in the dark and selling firewood by day,” Cowan said.

Cowan escaped back to his truck, having taken down the license-plate number of the man’s vehicle. Sheriff’s deputies arrested the oak whacker a week later.

“I won’t miss the enforcement duties,” Cowan said.

But he will miss the lake. Next Saturday will be his last trout opener. Stop by and say goodbye to a man who has spent most of his life helping protect and preserve an Escondido treasure.